R for Revival: R U Praying for It - Psalm 119:153-160 (Psalms 119:153-160)

0:54And he said, and he said, he said, why'd you do that? And I said, well, I'm trying to connect with the junior high crowd. I'm really trying to be hip. I'm trying to move in a direction of hipness, and I thought it would be good to connect with the junior high crowd. And he said, well, how's that going for you? And later I thought about it. It's not going that well. We're not swelling with a whole bunch of junior hires because I got my braces on my teeth. In fact, when they look at me, they're kind of looking at me with that blank stare like, are you for real?

1:30Well, so I'm kind of figuring I'm going to be careful about trying to be relevant. But I decided to go after another generation, okay? I figured that since I didn't struck out with the junior hires, I'm going to try to connect with that texting generation. So look at my title is R for Revival. We're in the stanza of Psalm 119, the letter R, and R for revival. But then I put a subtitle down there. Are you, you like my little emoji? Praying for it, right? Are you praying for it? So now, you see, I'm hip.

2:14Do you feel a little more connected now? You're looking at me like those junior high kids. Is this guy for real? Well, I better stick to the word, I guess, if I'm going to try to be relevant because it is relevant. And so. But hopefully, it will at least, if nothing else, cause you to remember this sermon. The message is really revival, and the question really comes to us: are you praying for it? Do you desire revival? Do you even know what it is? It's all through this stanza.

2:55If you look back, it's actually a very Good complement this psalm to the Daleth stanza, the D stanza. If you remember back in verse 25, we get a picture of what revival is. Or in verse 25, you see the psalmist, his soul cleaves to the dust, and he cries out, Revive me according to your word or according to your promise. So there he is, flat down on his face, as if the circumstances and issues of life have totally overcome him. And he is defeated. He has assumed the posture of defeat, which is actually the posture of victory, because he's crying out to the Lord to deliver him. And then in verse 32, you see a picture of what being revived looks like. I shall run in the way of your commandments. So revival is moving from a state of being totally overwhelmed and defeated to a point of running the race that God has for you and running it with full strength, full vitality to the glory of God. That is a picture of revival. And then when we come to the stanza this morning, the R stanza, the Resh stanza, there's a sequel to this, and he gives us the how and the why. How do we go? How do we become revived? How are we revived ourselves?

4:23And so this text is very fitting for our situation, even I guess this week. Is parents' weekend, right? Some of your parents may have come down to visit your students, and I think that some of the students are probably in that time of the semester now where they need rescue, redemption, and revival, right? You're in that moment. Well, this is the idea. He is circumstances, and those persecuting him have risen in great numbers and have brought him again low and brought him in need before the throne. But the one thing about revival you need to know: see, we often look to have our difficult, stress-laden circumstances replaced. That's what, for us, we long to have our difficult circumstances changed into simple ones or our stress-laden circumstances changed into stress-free ones. And that's what we oftentimes equate to revival. Change my circumstances.

5:38But this fails to understand the picture of what God is doing in us and what God delights in His people. Our God does not delight that we just have easy circumstances. He delights when we can overcome even difficult circumstances to the praise and honor of His name. That is what He's doing. Doing in us. That God delights, and let me underscore this. He delights in seeing us overcome our circumstances. In John 16, 33, Jesus says this, These things I have spoken to you, so that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation, but take courage. I have overcome the world, the perfect Son, completely taking on everything that hell could literally throw at him. Every temptation, every difficulty, and he overcame forever.

6:40He's overcome. In Revelation, just to drill this home even more, I want you to understand that God delights in seeing you overcome your circumstances to the praise and glory of God. Listen to what Revelation chapter 2, verse 7, Jesus says to the churches, To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God. In verse 11, he says, He who overcomes will not be hurt by the second death. To him, in verse 17, to him who overcomes, to him I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone and a new name written on the stone, which no one knows but he who receives it. And then in verse 26, you're starting to see a pattern, what Jesus delights in. In. He overcame, and he delights when his people overcome. In verse 26, he says, He who overcomes, I will give authority over the nations. And then in chapter 3, he goes on, he who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments, and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before my father and before his angels. In verse 12, he says, He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God, and he will not go out from it anymore. And I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven, my God, and my new name. Verse 21, he who overcomes, I will grant to sit down with me on my throne, as I also overcame and sat down on my father's throne. You see what he delights in his people? The very nature of Christ himself was one of overcoming. And he tells his disciples, Be of good cheer. I have overcome. You go and overcome.

8:37And again, one of the closing thoughts in Revelation, chapter 21, 7, he who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be his God, and he will be my son. You see, we don't need changed circumstances. We need revival. Revival is that strength. Revival is that inner fire. Fortitude and desire to overwhelm our circumstances for the glory of God. Instead of being overwhelmed by our circumstances, to have the strength and the fortitude and the hope and the joy and the faith to overcome the circumstances to the glory of God. And boy, we need this, don't we? We need this. If there's one thing I say we need, it's revival. You see, revival changes people, not circumstances. And then when people are changed by circumstances, guess what happens, or changed by God's Spirit, guess what happens to circumstances? They inevitably change in some way, fashion.

9:43But we need revival. We need to be revived from our coldness to God's word, from our coldness to one another, from a coldness of his vision for the church. We need to be revived from our despondency, from our drift, from our distraction by the world's entertainment, the world's systems, and the clever philosophies of men, and any path to take. We need to be revived to a clarity, to a warmness. We need our hearts warmed, our affections warmed. We need our hope renewed. We need our faith strengthened. We need more grace. We need more love. And we need that joy that comes that only He can give for running the race.

10:30You see, revival energizes us to be the kind of people that God wants us to be. Revival energizes us to be the kind of church that God delights in. And revival causes us to be the kind of nation that God delights in. If you looked at our nation, would you characterize it as a nation that God is absolutely excited and delighted in? Probably not, right? If you characterized our church, would you say that our church, and I mean the church, the professing church in the United States of America, would you say that this is a church that God holds up and says, this I am extremely delighted in? No, we need revival. We need revival in this nation. We need revival in our church. But then the question we have to ask, we have to bring it more home: Am I the kind of person that God absolutely delights in? Would he open up the heavens and say, This is my beloved child in whom I am well pleased?

11:39I think we all have a long way to go, don't we? We need to be revived. That is our greatest need. That is the need of this hour. So, how are we revived? How are we revived? Very important question. I'm glad you asked because you need to know, and there's an answer. We are revived. When we hear the truth and believe it, let that sink in. You are revived when you come to the table of God's Word and you hear it and you believe it. It can do nothing else but revive you. That's what it does.

12:21And so this morning, I want you to see two desperate conditions in our stanza, and then I want you to see two glorious realities that will revive your soul. Two desperate conditions and two glorious realities that will revive your soul if you will believe them. And that's where we're going this morning. So first, I want you to see a desperate situation. And just look back at verse 153. And this desperate situation is really articulated in five rapid-fire appeals, imperative appeals. And you'll see them: look, rescue me, plead, redeem me, revive me. Five emphatic, imperative, please. Look upon, rescue, plead, redeem, revive. Look at verse 153: look upon my affliction and rescue me, for I do not forget your law. Plead my cause and redeem me. Revive me according to your word. We'll take them one at a time. The first one, look upon my affliction. The idea is to look upon. To look, fix your gaze here, pay attention to this.

13:38In fact, the psalmist calls upon the God who sees. Very interesting word when he says, look upon. It's the same word in Genesis 22, 7. And let me read this to you just so you get the appreciation for what's going on here. Remember, in Genesis 22, Abraham is taking Isaac up to sacrifice him on the altar. Of course, he doesn't, if you know the rest of the story. But in verse 7, Isaac spoke to Abraham, his father, and said, My father, and he said, Here I am, my son. And he said to him, Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering? Abraham said, God will provide for himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.

14:34A literal translation of this would be, and Abraham said, God will see himself the lamb for the burnt offering. Translated as God will provide. But the word actually literally translated would be, God will see for himself, or God will see himself even as the lamb. But it's the idea of the God who sees, and we get that whole idea that. God is the God who sees. And in Exodus 3:7, the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people, same verb, who are in Egypt, and have given heed to their cry because of their taskmasters. For I am aware of their suffering, so I have come down to deliver them from the power of the Egyptians and to bring them up from that land to a good and spacious land.

15:26God saw the desperateness of his people's situation in Egypt and he saw their affliction. So he came down to rescue, to redeem, and to bring them out into a spacious land. So the psalmist is saying the same here. Look upon my affliction. I know you're the God who looks upon and pays attention to my desperate situation. Second thing, look upon my affliction and rescue me. That is, cause my rescue. Cause my deliverance. And he gives a reason there. For I do not forget your law. I remember your Torah. I remember what you have said. Look upon me. And he goes on, plead, plead my cause. The idea there is to contend on my behalf. You take your position as a defense attorney and plead my cause. Look upon the affliction that is being caused. Now, rescue me from this. Plead my cause. Be my defense attorney, is what he's saying. And he goes on to say, Redeem, plead my cause and redeem me. That is, redeem, stand in my stead, fight my fight, bear my burden, pay the price necessary to bring me out of this constraining situation into a spacious one, into liberty. Redeem me. Fascinating imagery, fascinating word. He's saying, do the part of my kinsman redeemer. The whole concept in the book of Ruth is centered around this idea of being the kinsman redeemer. And he's saying, redeem me. Be my closest relative who will come in and remove my reproach and who will use of your resources to strengthen and to take me from a place of constraint to a place of spaciousness, blessing.

17:25You see, the Bible pictures God as our nearest relative, our kinsman redeemer, the one who delivers and the one who rescues us from our own helpless situations. Plead my cause, redeem me. And then this fifth word, revive me according to your word. Back at 154, revive me according to your word. Saying, breathe life into my soul. That's what he's saying. Breathe life. I am so down in my circumstances. I am so down with what's come against me. Breathe life into it. Though I am living in an atmosphere and a culture of death, breathe life into my soul. And it's according to your word. Notice how he says, revive me according to your word. And the word for word there he uses is one that is synonymous with promise.

18:29Revive me according to your promise. You see, revival, the psalmist's hope for revival is based upon one changing factor, unchanging factor, and that is the integrity of God. We based all our hope upon one thing: God, God's integrity. He says, Revive me according to your word, your promise. Revival will come because he knows that God will honor his word. And our basis of hope for a good future is ultimately based upon the integrity of God. Personal revival is something, and get this, God promises to all who call upon him in truth. Personal revival is for everyone who will call upon him in truth. It's for everyone who will believe his word. And take it in and internalize it and abide in it. It can't help but revive you. The problem is with us, why we are so downcast in many of our circumstances is because we do not abide in his word. We have cut ourselves off or we are emaciated, right?

19:50From his word. But the word of God can't help but revive. If you struggle in your circumstances, it's because you have a real hard time. You struggle with your time in the word. You're not feeding on his word. But back to our psalmist. Using these terms, the psalmist, it's clear that he is in a very desperate situation. He needs rescue. He needs redemption. He needs revival. See the R's in there, right? He needs revival. And that is why he asked God to look upon his affliction, plead his cause, rescue, redeem, and revive me. It's a desperate situation. Now, let me show you an even more desperate situation. Look back at verse 155.

20:40Salvation is far from the wicked, for they do not seek your statutes. Now, look at this. This is an even more desperate situation, though the psalmist has all this going against him. There's something that's even more desperate, and that is that salvation is. Far from the wicked, and they're not even seeking to remedy it. The literal reading is far away from the wicked, Yeshua. It's a literal reading. Far away the wicked from God's salvation, from Yeshua.

21:23The wicked. And listen, the wicked are those who have an unrighteous cause, those who have a hostility or a bent away from God is a good way to put it. The unrighteous, the wicked are the crooked, those who have a crooked path, one that goes away from God. And the emphasis is on the word far away. That's where it starts. Far away. They're a great distance from God's salvation. They're a long way. And the reason for their desperate situation, look back at the second part of 155. For they do not seek your statutes. They're not even trying to understand God's ways. So of course they're far from God's salvation. They are lost. They are blind. And they're not even moving closer to being saved. They are moving farther from God's salvation, from God's statutes. Because it is in those statutes that God has created that. God has communicated critical information that must be understood for a person to be delivered. The ultimate deliverance you need is from God. The way you are delivered from God is through God's ordinances and by believing in His salvation, His Yeshua. But if you are walking away from God's Word, you are getting farther and farther and farther away from the hope of salvation.

23:02You see, when a person is moving in the opposite direction from God's statutes, they are moving farther and farther away from salvation. Is that you today? I mean, is your life characterized by seeking to know and understand God's statutes? If you do nothing else in this life, you need to do this one thing: don't disregard God's Word, don't disregard His ways, because to do so is to move further and further away from God's salvation. You're lost, don't even know it, and not even looking for God's salvation. That's an even more desperate situation. Not too long ago, I thought I would, it was a beautiful day, and I love to let my chickens get out and run around when it's a beautiful day. I think those turn into days of terror for them, but I think it's pretty to. Let them out and run around. So I left the gate open, and then long about evening, I went in and there was a big bird of prey in the chicken pen. And as it came about, dead chicken, big bird of prey in there. I walk up there, my first inkling, I'm really kind of mad. I said, okay, my name is Thomas Baber. You killed my chicken. Prepare to die, you know?

24:33But I had mercy. Okay, so I buttoned up the chickens so they were all safe and I walked out, left the door wide open. Of course, this bird of prey is jumping up, running, trying to fly, and just beating the daylights out of himself, trying to get out of the pen, which is covered in a metal netting and that kind of thing. And so I left him there. So he doesn't leave. Day after day, he stays in there. And then when I would get close, he would fly up and bang himself and beat him up, got to where he couldn't even get out. Eventually, he died in there.

25:16But the point of it is, that's the position of somebody who does not know God. Lost, even the doors wide open, not even looking for God's salvation. Richard Baxter said it like this: to exhort those in the church to have pity, to have mercy, even upon those who are hostile to us. Baxter says this, that great English Puritan of the 1600s: Oh, if you had the hearts of Christians or of men in you, let them yearn toward your poor, ignorant, ungodly neighbors. Alas, there is but a step between them and death and hell. Many hundred diseases are waiting to seize them, and if they die unregenerate, they are lost forever. Have you hearts of rock that cannot pity men in such a case as this? If you do not believe the word of God and the danger of sinners, why do you think you're a Christian yourself?

26:27If you do believe it, why do you not bestir yourself to the helping of others? Do you not care who is damned, so that so long as you are saved? If so, you have sufficient cause to pity yourselves. In other words, he's saying, if you do not have a heart for those in a pathetic, pitiful, lost situation, you have sufficient cause to pity yourself, for it is a frame of a spirit utterly inconsistent with grace. You see, a lost person. Even those who come being the source of your affliction, we should have mercy upon them. We should have mercy upon all of those who are far from God's salvation. The wisest course for them is to seek God's favor. The wisest course for them is to seek God's mercy and grace through repentance and belief. That's the wisest course for them. And for us, the wisest and most merciful course we can take is to affirm God's truth even in the face of their insolent persecutions or even in the face of difficult trials that you may be going through. A watching world is waiting to see what's in you.

27:46So there's a desperate situation and an even more desperate situation. Now I want to show you a glorious reality. A glorious reality. Look at verse 156. Great are your mercies, O Lord. Great are your mercies. And that's the pivot point of this whole psalm. Great are your mercies, great in quality. They are remarkable to an extraordinary degree. Your mercies are great in quality. They are also great in quantity. They are also great in variety. They are great. Great are your mercies. And your mercies is in the place of emphasis. And this speaks of God's deep awareness and sympathy for the suffering of others. But your mercies, it speaks of God's deep awareness and sympathy for the suffering of others. This is God's character. He does see, he does understand, and he does have mercy upon our affliction, whatever form that is.

29:03That's why he could say with boldness, look upon my affliction in verse 153. So, God, put it all together here, God is aware of our affliction. God is aware of whatever we are going through, in small and in large. With God, there's no such thing as the infinite or the infinitesimal. No problem is too big, no problem is too small. He is aware of it all, and he is moved out of his own heart of mercy to remedy. That's the character of God.

29:40That's the great reality. And knowledge of God's mercies enables one to deal with cultural hostility. If you look back, knowledge of this for our psalmist enabled him to deal with the cultural hostility that he was facing. And sometimes you're going to face cultural hostility on the Outside, and sometimes it's going to come from the inside. And I'll explain what I mean in a minute. But look back at verse 157. Many are my persecutors and my adversaries. Talking about outsider hostility. These are people on the outside of his life that are clear adversaries.

30:22Many are they. He uses the same word as great are your mercies. Same word. Great are your mercies, great are my adversaries. But he's able to deal with it because he knows God's mercies are greater than God's, than his adversaries. That's why he can say, yet I do not turn aside from your testimonies. I do not swerve because of your great mercies. I do not swerve away from your witness to the truth. Even though my persecutors and adversaries have a whole different definition and a whole different course of life they want me to live, I do not swerve because your mercies are great. I can deal with the outside hostility. But you know what? If you have a knowledge of God's mercies, you'll also be equipped to deal with insider hostility, insider hostility. Those are real adversaries, but they appear to be friends. They appear to be friends. Look at verse 158. I behold the treacherous and loathe them. I behold. I can see them. I look upon them. It's the same word that he used. Look upon my afflictions. Let me tell you, I can see the treacherous. The treacherous, it's a verbal, it's a participle. I can see the ones committing treachery against me. I can see them. I can see their treachery.

31:59If you had to ask me what was the ugliest term in scripture, I would probably think about it a little more, but I would point to this word as a definite candidate. I think this is one of the most ugliest terms in Scripture: treachery. It involves betrayal. It involves a level of trust, a closeness. There's a deceptive action that can only be done by somebody who is close. That's the way treachery works. Only somebody who poses as an ally or a friend can be treacherous.

32:44The psalmist sees it. You know, the picture of you can get the idea of treachery as somebody, good friend, coming over, posing as a good friend, wanting to shake your hand with a big smile, maybe some flattering language. And all the while, they've got a big knife right behind their back. That's the picture of treachery. And it hurts. It hurts like anything else. And those of you who've experienced it know exactly what I'm talking about. But only a friend can get so close as to deal treacherously.

33:24And he says, I see this, and I loathe them. Probably not the best translation here. It's probably better to say, I am disgusted, because it just says, I and loathe. And if you, I see them, and I loathe. I loathe. Or I am disgusted. It turns my stomach. It causes me grief. I see their actions and it turns my stomach. And notice why this turns his stomach. Verse 158, because they do not keep your word. That's the loathsome condition. They do not conform themselves to God's word, so they don't deal with him according to God's word. They do not keep your word. I see that, and it is loathsome.

34:20But what's interesting about this is this is the condition that the psalmist wants to avoid himself, right? This is the condition. As believers, we should all want to avoid. Look at what he says in verse 17 of Psalm 119: Deal bountifully with your servant, that I may live and keep your word. Deal bountifully with me, so that I am not like this guy, like those who go away and do not keep your word. I don't want to be like that. So, God, deal bountifully with me. That's a theme throughout the Psalms. So, the knowledge of God's mercies enabled the psalmist to deal with the outsider hostility and the insider hostility.

35:07And he knows, if you go on, that God's mercies are the only basis for any hope of revival. Look back at 159. Consider how I love your precepts. That is, consider my loyalty, my expression of loyalty, even if it's pitiful. Consider my love for your precepts and revive me, O Lord, according to your loving kindness, according to your covenant loyalty. God, look upon my expression of loyalty, and God, revive me, breathe new life into me according to your covenant faithfulness.

35:51So, there he goes again. Consider, look at verse 153. He says, same word, look upon my affliction. And then he says in 158, I see the Treacherous, or I'm looking upon them. And then in verse 159, look upon my love. Look upon my affliction. Look upon my love, and revive me. I want you to step back a little bit and just, I want you to see three elements of the progression of revival in this Psalm. Look, look back. Look at 154.

36:24And he says, Revive me according to your word. Look at 156, revive me according to your ordinances. 159, revive me, O Lord, according to your loving kindness. You see the progression? Do you see the elements? Revive me according to your promise, according to your word, according to your ordinances, according to that which you have ordained for me to be revived in, and according to your loving kindness, your covenant loyalty. That's the basis of revival. It's according to his promise, his way, and according to his loyalty.

37:07You see, we see this justice and mercy of God that meet at the cross. They come together for the purpose of reviving the fallen image of God and taking that fallen image, you and me, and reviving that image by the work of Christ, by the justice of And by the mercy of Christ and changing us into the image of that perfect Son that can overcome, that will love God more than anything. You know, when you cower in your circumstances, you know what you're doing? You're raising an idol. That's saying you love your circumstances more than you love God. Listen, if anybody can get you to, whatever can cause you to swerve from God's testimonies or from God's word, that is an idol in your life. If pressures, if persecution, if entertainment, any of that stuff that causes you to sin, it's an idol. And we serve a jealous God who will tolerate no rivals. He will become all in all.

38:25That's who he is. And that's who he deserves us to see him as. You see, the thief comes to destroy. But Jesus said in John 10, 10, I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. He says, I want you to live. That's why I came, so that you will live. It's not about changed circumstances. It's about you changing in spite of the circumstances. Do you believe this? Do you believe this is really why Christ came?

39:07You see, I think many of us are in danger of being shipwrecked by our own belief. We see this in Scripture, but then we really don't internalize the truth. We don't take the word. We don't let it go down into the deep part of our being. We don't let it get there because of our own belief. 1 Corinthians 15, 45 says, The first man became a living soul. The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. That's who he is. So, a desperate situation, an even more desperate situation. We've looked at a glorious reality, and I want to show you an even more glorious reality, if there could even be such a thing. Look back at verse 160. The sum of your word is truth, and every one of your righteous ordinances is everlasting. The sum, that is the beginning, the end, and everything in between, the whole speaks.

40:04It's breath, it's comprehension. The whole of your word is truth. It's firm, it's reliable, it's fixed forever. And every one speaks of even the smallest details. I was trying to communicate this to my kids this week by a jar full of a bunch of coins. The whole is true, but then every little piece is true. It's righteous forever. Every one of God's righteous ordinances. Is everlasting. So what could possibly be more glorious than God's merciful character and His loving ordinances? What could possibly be greater than that? What could be more glorious than that? And the answer is the last word of verse 160. Your righteous ordinances are everlasting, is everlasting, every one of them.

40:52You see, they are everlasting. They are permanent. They are forever. So what could be more glorious than God's merciful character is that it never ends. It's forever. What could be more glorious than his loving ordinances? They're forever. They're permanent. And that gives us that anchor, that foundation, that foundation for us to build our lives upon. And when we take in God's righteous word, when we internalize it, when it comes in, we believe, we think, we meditate, we abide, it gives life. You see, revival is for everyone who truly believes and continually abides in God's Word. We have no revival because we have no abiding in His Word. You can see this on a national level. You can see it in much of the professing church, and we can see that in many of our individual lives, right?

41:571 John 5, 4, John says this. Whatever is born of God overcomes the world. Pretty stout statement. And this is the victory that has overcome the world. I'm going to tell you what it is. Our faith. We believe. That's the victory that overcomes. We believe what he says. We internalize what he says. It gives us hope. It gives us strength. It gives us joy to run the race that he has marked out for us. And your race is unique to you. And no one can glorify God in your particular situation better than you because it is unique to you.

42:39Well, as we wrap this up, I want to call your attention back to the fact that the central blessing of this stanza is revival. It's the revived strength to face the trying circumstances. The central blessing is not changed circumstances, but the strength to face them and to be victorious over them. This goes back to the question: Are you praying for revival? Are you praying for revival? Your circumstances may get darker. That may be a reality. They may get better. I pray that they will.

43:21But I pray more that you will be revived so that you'll be able to face them. At 5:30 a.m. on May. On May 10th, 1940, Nazi Germany began a massive attack against Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg, and France. Defending those countries were soldiers of the British Expeditionary Force, along with the French, Belgian, and Dutch Allied armies. The German blitzkrieg, that is, the lightning attack, caught the Allies off guard. And after a few short weeks of battle, Hitler's armies had conquered Holland, Luxembourg, and Belgium. Paris fell on June 14th. Three days later, the French requested a ceasefire. And the following day, which was June 18th, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill spoke to the House of Commons about the disastrous turn of events that had just taken place in Europe and the stark realization that Britain now stood alone against the seemingly unstoppable might of Hitler's military machine.

44:32I want to read to you an excerpt from Churchill's speech that day. What General Wegen called the battle of France is over. I expect that the battle of Britain is about to begin. Upon this battle depends the survival of Christian civilization. Upon it depends our own British life. And the long continuity of our institutions and our empire, the whole fury and might of the enemy must very soon be turned on us. Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this land or lose the war. If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be free and the life of the world may move forward into broad sunlit uplands. But if we fail, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and care for, will sink into the abyss of a new dark age made more sinister by the lights of perverted science. Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties and so bear ourselves that if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will say this was their finest hour.

46:00You see, the church in America faces a similar darkness. Just today, I heard about another church in our community that openly affirmed the validity of the homosexual lifestyle. Listen, there is a homosexual tyranny on this land right now that is as antichrist as the Aryan philosophy of Hitler. And my question to you: are you ready to stand? As a church, are we ready to stand? God has placed us in this community for this hour, given us the words to speak for the purpose of communicating truth to our generations so that they would know the door of God's salvation.

46:56And, friend, it doesn't happen if our circumstances overwhelm us. We must overwhelm them, but we cannot overwhelm them in our own strength. We need his revival. Do you believe that Jesus is forever crucified, forever risen, forever the supreme authority? And let's pray that he will warm our affections and that he will give us personal revival because we can go nowhere, advance or stand if he does not revive our souls. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for the life of this psalmist, Father, that stood in his time. Father, we thank you for the revealed truth that comes to us today through his faithful devotion to you.

47:53And, Father, we ask today that you would do a work in us. Father, warm our affections. A thirst and a taste for your word. Father, help us to not just gloss over it time and time again, but to really understand, to take it in deep, to understand the implications. You conquered death. You rose. Father, you are seated at the right hand of all authority. Help us to believe. Forgive our unbelief. Revive us, we ask in Jesus' name. Amen.